Medical imaging visualization software may be used to perform segmentation of organs and other anatomical structures and features from images of a human subject. After performing the segmentation of an organ, for example, a model of the interior hollow structure of an anatomical feature within the organ may be desired. Although the “empty” space of hollow structures can be segmented and visualized in software, a medical professional may desire that a model of the hollow structure be generated and visualized separately. These models, referred to as “hollow models”, may be used to model hollow anatomical features such as vessels, lung airways, and heart chambers.
Hollow models are useful for physically modelling fluid flow and the internal structure of the subject organ, among other objectives. To allow the depiction of the internal structure in a real-world space, a “shell” can be defined and indicated around the otherwise hollow, empty space of the model cavity. For example, a medical professional may wish to print a three-dimensional perspective of the hollow structure within an organ using a 3-D printer, to represent the true biological structures surrounding the organ's interior empty space.